The Barren Wife He Buried Came Back With The Donna Crown Chapter 05
The Toast
Luca found out I was in the hospital a week later.
He was in the middle of throwing a press party. Announcing Cara’s pregnancy. Announcing her new title. Legitimizing his heir in front of every Family on the coast.
He heard I’d been beaten half to death and he dropped it all.
I opened my eyes and he was already at my bedside.
“Baby. Baby, look at me. I got the watch. It’s already at the house. Don’t you worry.”
He turned to his consigliere. “The auction house is done. They couldn’t recognize my own wife. Shut them out of every deal we touch.”
He looked at my arms. His jaw twitched. “Whoever swung on Mia. Break their legs. Dump them in international waters. Anyone who ran their mouth about her that night, break the mouth.”
I laughed. Softly.
It hurt.
“And what about your sweetheart? Cara maxed my card. Cut open my face. Got my arms broken. What’s her punishment, Luca?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. Sighed. “Mia. Come on. You started it. You went after Cara first. I put seven figures in your account every month. Any jewel in this city, you point, I buy. All this over a piece of tin your mother owned?”
I almost laughed again.
Luca had forgotten. When he needed to bring me to heel three years ago, he’d frozen every account in my name. Everything he’d ever given me was on paper only. Bags, cars, houses, none of them were mine. That card in my purse was the only real money I had left in the world.
But there was no point telling him now.
“Let it die, Mia. Cara’s not going to hold a grudge either. She just wants you to toast her at the engagement party. Save her face in front of the Families. Then she forgives you.”
His mouth softened when he said her name.
I felt something turn over inside me.
In our world, the mistress toasts the wife. Not the other way around.
He wanted me to toast his whore.
Fine.
I wouldn’t be Mrs. Fuselli much longer.
…
The night of the party, the ballroom was packed. Every Family on the coast. Diamonds, silk, cigar smoke, camera flashes.
Luca walked in with Cara on his arm. Every reporter treated them like a wedding.
Cara leaned into his chest and stage-whispered so the room could hear. “Boss, I want a wedding bigger than the one you gave her. I want my own house. Not the Sycamore.”
Luca smiled and promised her everything.
Every eye that landed on me carried the same look. Pity. Amusement.
A small figure in a cheap dress edged up to me. Press badge on her hip. Hands shaking. “Mrs. Fuselli. That story you mentioned. The three-hundred-dollar one. Was that real?”
I turned my head. “It’s not three hundred anymore. It’s free. Come closer.”
I leaned to her ear. I spoke for maybe fifteen seconds.
Her eyes went huge. She covered her mouth.
I smiled.
“Go. Run home and file it. After midnight, it’s too late.”
She went white and half stumbled toward the exit.
The way she moved caught eyes. Including Luca’s.
He let go of Cara and started walking toward me.
CRACK.
The first shot took out the chandelier.
The doors burst open. Ten, fifteen men in tactical black. Red dots dancing across silk gowns. Screaming. Champagne flutes hitting the floor.
Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me back.
I looked up.
I knew the face.
Fifteen years ago, he was one of the men who took me. Seven days. Seven nights. The one who cut the word into my hip. The one who killed the child I’d been carrying.
Silas “Stone” Moretti.
Luca’s face changed color. He shoved through the crowd.
“Stone. Stone, put her down. Whatever you want. Name it.”
Stone laughed. It sounded like wet gravel. “You killed my brother, Luca. You killed my woman. You killed my son. Tonight I take back what you took.”
He raised the gun. He swung it between me and Cara. “You want them back? Open your safe. Give me every ledger, every tape, every name. And you walk out with two live women.”
Luca went pale.
Everything he’d ever done was in that safe.
His eyes flicked. Me. Cara. Me. Cara.
“Boss.” Cara was shaking so hard she couldn’t stand. “Boss, you said me and the baby were the most important thing in your life. Please. Please give it to him. I’m so scared.”
“Cara,” his voice cracked. “Cara, I can’t.”
Stone smiled. He pulled his jacket open. Belt wrapped in bricks of C4.
“Three seconds. Then we all go together.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
Luca’s men opened fire. A bullet caught Stone in the shoulder. He staggered. His hand jerked the pin.
He fell backward. Dragging me with him.
“DOWN! GET DOWN!”
Luca lunged.
He grabbed Cara. He wrapped his whole body around her.
The blast lifted me off my feet. White light. Then black water. Cold and deep.
The last thing Luca saw was me disappearing into the fire.
He stood there like something had scooped his soul out through his chest.
Then he threw his head back and screamed.
“MIA!”